“Okay, but did you have to be so fucking loud?” John said, making sure William was aware of his discomfort.
William looked a bit sheepish, but tried to make light of the situation as he gave a small shrug and replied, “At least we didn’t get attacked. Could’ve been worse.”
“Not much worse to imagine than possibly dying to the sound of you two going at it like rabbits.”
“I dunno, I think it’d be a fine way to go. For me anyway.”
“Yeah because you’re the one getting laid. What guy is gonna be mad at dying while feeling good?”
“Well, we learned a bit about the soundproofing or lack thereof anyway. By the way, the more you moan, the less time you get to sleep. We’re heading off in a few hours after all.”
John looked lost at a response, wanting to moan more, but fighting the urge so he could get some sleep. He relented after a pregnant moment and went inside. Stacey and Jane had been awkwardly silent during the exchange. William did feel mortified that his sister had heard what he and Stacey were doing and selfishly hoped she didn’t do the same thing to him. Her and John had a few hours already to themselves to talk about their feelings and the like. Jane followed John inside after another awkward moment, only sparing a brief glance at William, the look on her face was grim and William hoped he hadn’t actually traumatized her. He shrugged after a moment, deciding to deal with it only if he had to.
Stacey walked up to his side and gave him a slightly embarrassed look.
“Oopsie,” Stacey said, her face showing a warmer shade of red.
William didn’t show it outwardly, but he certainly felt uncomfortable in the same way.
“They’ll get over it, don’t worry,” William said, his voice a whisper, wanting to avoid another argument.
Stacey looked skeptical and William wrapped his arm around her, lightly kissing her forehead and giving her what he hoped was his best look of reassurance. It seemed to work for the moment as he let her go and threw some more wood into the little fire pit that John and Jane had made. He sat down with Stacey taking a seat on his right, lifting his arm and putting it back around her.
William looked into the fire and got lost in thought. Part of him thought the rest was unnecessary as none of them would really need much sleep given the stats they had. Even the smaller amount that the others had than William was enough to keep someone going for several days. Oddly however, no one from Earth had missed sleep unnecessarily since coming to GAEA. In the end he put it down to a comfort thing. With the errant thought gone, William turned his attention to the surroundings and began his watch.
The night had been blissfully quiet and the group set off at the break of dawn. Jane seemed fine to go into the woods when the sunlight was shining, even if it only bled through the canopy in sparse rays, dimly illuminating the trail they walked down. William didn’t see much difference between dimly lit and dark if he was being honest. If anything, dimly lit woodland felt eerier than proper darkness. For someone who didn’t need much sleep, he was certainly too tired to have that particular debate with his sister. He would just kill whatever beasts or people attacked them. It was a simple solution to a simple problem.
William ended up having to do just that throughout the day. Various critters attacked them on their travels, including large insectoids. He didn’t really see any comparisons to those of Earth insects amongst the attackers other than a particularly troublesome insect that was kind of like a beetle but one the size of a Great Dane. It had took two uses of [Vortex Slash] and one use of [Vortex Thrust] all with [Mana Investment] thrown in. William hadn’t tried his Alpha Strike combo thinking that it was just a bug and didn’t want to waste it. The decision had essentially wasted more MP than necessary. William did find some silver linings to the fight however, as Jane and Stacey gained two levels, with John gaining enough EXP to go up one level. He had also watched as the chitin of the large insect seemed to resist magic as John and Stacey tried to use [Fire-Bolt] on the creature only to watch it slightly char the chitin. William decided that he really wanted the chitin and so got to work with Sharpie to dissect the dead creature.
What was intended to be a brief endeavor turned into a two hour period of effort before the chitin was freed from the bug. The only thing separating the various types of goo inside the insect from William was a thin membrane that he backed away from once the chitin was in his possession. He stored the material in his Spatial Ring, pleased that the solid material was incredibly lightweight. He hoped Everglade had a skilled craftsman who could work the material into something cool. His first thought was some gauntlets or greaves, but decided that shoulder pauldrons would be much cooler. Using his mind’s eye to take in the size of the chitin, he felt that he would have a good amount spare and pictured something like an inner layer of the chitin covering his body like plates of armor. His mental picture was medieval and magical body armor. The other thing that pleased William was that the chitin was jet black, like his overcoat and his hair. With armor and pauldrons William felt that he would look incredibly badass. Even his sword, Absolution was black. William was a fan of nice cosmetics on his characters so if he could get the look he had in his mind to become reality, he would be a happy man.
William thought about Sharpie and Absolution and looked to his side sword. It was always used as his opening attack, never in main combat. It had the item name of Longsword of Severance. It was rather long winded so he shortened it to Severance. He was the owner of Severance, Sharpie, and Absolution. Out of the three, Sharpie was the most used, even though it was mainly enchanted excessively by William. Objectively, the two other swords were just better. He loved Sharpie though as a tool that had helped him in many battles and would remain his main sword for a long time. At least, that was William’s intention. Who knew what the future held. He would definitely be acquiring more swords in the future. He had discovered that since coming to GAEA he had developed a collector’s interest in swords. Some people on Earth did similar with Watches. They would collect the cool and pretty, or antique and classic, maybe all the above and occasionally wear them once in a while as they would have a good enough watch as a daily use one. Sharpie seemed to fit that role for a sword well. It was enchanted enough to be decent and resilient in combat and lightweight enough for the Arcane Sword art. William hoped to get a hold of many more weird and wonderful swords. They would be swords so that generally meant that they were all useful to some extent and worth collecting. He could picture his Spatial Ring storage being lined with racks of beautiful swords. It was something to work towards in the future. The group continued on their travels throughout the day and by the time they reached a clearing near another Milestone, it was turning to evening. Jane sighed with defeat as she had to spend the night in the middle of the woods. William had expected it but hadn’t said since the thought occurred, just in case they did make it to Everglade by nightfall.
The Milestone read:
Everglade – 10 Miles
The trail continued beyond, getting wider and much more travelled. They were decently close now, but travelling the last ten miles would still be risky in the dark of night. Maybe a patrol would encounter the camp and they could get an escort the rest of the way. If not, it was tomorrow’s problem. They kept the same rotation for watch as the previous night, with less raunchy activity. William decided to review his Character Sheet as he hadn’t done so in a good while. Willing it to his mind, it appeared:
{Ascension_Protocol}
{Character Sheet – William “Bloodbane” Brooks Level 25}
{Rank}
Steel
{Attributes:}
- Strength: 87
- Dexterity: 90
- Intelligence: 79
- Wisdom: 86
- Vitality: 75
- Charisma: 53
{Classes:}
[Primary – Fighter Level 18] [Secondary – Enchanter Level 8]
{Class Skills:}
[Fighter Skills:]
- Vortex Thrust - Indomitable Parry - Shield Bash - Dagger Toss
- Vortex Slash
[Enchanter Skills:]
- Runic Imbuing - Mana Conversion - Mana Investment - Empty - Empty
[Racial Skills:]
- Identify
[General Skills:]
5 out of ∞
- Party Interface
- Cartographer
- Danger Sense
- Darksight
- Flash Stride
{Jobs:}
- Empty - Empty - Empty
{Job Skills:}
Job 1 – 0/5
Job 2 – 0/5
Job 3 – 0/5
{Titles}
Brutal Man-Slayer
Relentless Combatant
Fell the Mighty
Journeyman of the Arcane Sword
Dungeoneer I
Progenitor Delver
Wave Breaker
Enemy of Entropy
One-Man Army
{Faction Enmity:}
Heralds of Entropy – 600 (Infamous)
{Current Resource Pools:}
HP 750/750
MP 360/790
SP 550/870
{Region Titles}
Bloodbane
{End}
William was astonished at the new information his character sheet provided. His sheet listed his full name as well as his regional Title, his rank was listed amongst the stats displayed, and the other thing that took his interest was the Enmity information. He seemed to be making an enemy out of the fell-kin and that ilk. He shrugged mentally, not too concerned given that they wouldn’t spare him a second thought. He started to wonder how far he could push it and if it was a good idea to push it that far so early. The last thing he needed was to be pasted on the floor by something a billion times higher level than him. He would need much more strength before he could just run from one fell zone to the next to grind for more levels. The prospects were fun to consider, he had to admit. So much to see, fight, and loot in the world.
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It was towards the end of the watch that the group had some unwanted guests. Three men emerged from the treeline to the north, not from the game trail either. They had traversed the woodland itself. William’s first thought was why? He told a surprised Stacey to go inside and wake the others just in case they had to fight, but not to emerge until the sound of battle echoed. As she went, William saw the three men approach, their silhouettes visible to his [Darksight] and as he noticed their yellow clothing appear in the campfire light, he knew it was definitely going to be a fight. William didn’t mind though, as they might have more loot on them. He should probably talk with them however, just in case.
“Stay right there you three. What do you want?” William said, putting on a severe tone and trickling out some killing intent from his aura.
The three men did stop to William’s surprise as the two to the left and right of the center man looked at said man as if waiting for his lead. William knew who to kill first from that act of ignorance from his enemy.
“We want to know where you got the shelter from?” The middle guy said, looking between the shelter and William.
“Found it. Next question?” William replied, preparing to Alpha Strike the three of them and be done with the hassle.
“Hmm, we also found the burned bodies of our comrades a few miles north of here. The really interesting thing was that the shelter behind you was used by our Guard Captain.”
“Ah yeah, Armak or whatever the fuck he was called. Him and his group tried to fuck around with us. Alas, the more you fuck around-”
William put his hand on Severance and continued, “The more you find out.”
William saw the three go to draw their weapons, all swords to William’s delight as he used [Flash Stride] to appear behind the three, crouching low and executing his Alpha Strike at an upward diagonal angle to make sure he didn’t damage the shelter. William couldn’t help but be shocked as the middle guy vanished, leaving his two comrades to be obliterated by William’s attack. William quickly wiped the blade off and sheathed severance once more, summoning Sharpie to hand and scanning the environment. He spotted the silhouette of the man appear in the treeline next to where the three had formerly appeared before. William rushed over and after a few seconds of chasing, used [Dagger Toss] and [Mana Investment] sending a Mythril Dagger hurtling straight into the fleeing man’s thigh. A sharp yelp emitted form the guy as he stumbled and William descended upon the man. William took the opportunity to pin the man’s sword hand that had stopped grasping his sword when he fell using Sharpie to trap it causing blood to spurt up the blade. The plan worked and the man was pinned as William lowered his weight on the unknown man.
“It seems it’s my turn to ask some questions,” William said, putting on a friendly smile.
The stranger glared with hateful and pain filled eyes that shifted to fear as William drew one of his thigh daggers and looked thoughtfully at different areas of the man’s body. William was using it as an intimidation tactic, but would torture the info out of him if need be. Sympathy and empathy were two things that you never gave your enemy. That was William’s belief, built from his numerous encounters and battles since coming to GAEA.
William asked his first question as he held the dagger near the man’s ear.
“How’d you find us?” He asked, making sure the cold metal was pressed against the ear lobe, ready to slice if need be.
The man shuddered at the feel of cold metal on his ear and quickly replied, “We followed the game trail south, through the nearby woodland so we could ambush you if we caught up with your group.”
“Clever. Okay, next question. Who the fuck are you guys?”
That seemed to get a reaction of surprise and stupor as the man slowly replied, seeming to consider his words.
“We’re guards of Fort Boulder. You mean to say that you didn’t know who we were before just killing a bunch of us?”
“Well, some noble prick thought me and my friend were bandits and refused to listen as we explained that we weren’t. He then tried to kill us with his two guards. I killed him and one other, leaving the last who fled alive out of mercy. It was a mistake as that guy appeared before with your Guard Captain in tow. Similar shit happened again and I had to kill everyone. I can’t let people go to wherever they were based to get reinforcements. Now I know where you guys are based at least.”
The guard looked even further stupefied at the revelation, but composed himself as he replied, “All those men dead because of a misunderstanding. Such a waste. I already know that I’m dying here today too, but you should know that I am sorry about the misunderstanding between you and the others. The young lord was...taxing. In fact, the Baron, his father is just as obnoxious, but we still do our duty as guardsmen. Even if we aren’t guarding much this far from our charges. You should know that we did send two scouts away earlier, but not in the same direction as we came. You may want to be on guard leaving Everglade. The scouts didn’t know who exactly we were following, but once they report in, it wouldn’t take much for them to connect the dots.”
William took his turn to be stupefied at the sudden chatterbox guard underneath him.
A long moment later, William got his composure back and asked, “Why are you telling me, your enemy, all this stuff?”
The guard chuckled seeming to be handling the pain of his injuries impressively well before he replied, “It seems more like you are the enemy of our lord. Guards like us are duty bound to serve, but that doesn’t mean that the job is great. Duty is duty. We are ready to die in battle to do our duty. All the search party stuff looking for you is not what we are supposed to be doing. You are rather lucky if I’m being honest.”
William’s brows furrowed as he processed the last sentence uttered by the guard and said, “How is killing a bunch of guards that want to find and kill me lucky?”
“Because we are guards. We aren’t soldiers. Most of the people stationed at fort boulder are only a few levels higher than this region’s soft cap. If they had mustered a battalion of soldiers form further inland, you wouldn’t stand a chance. No offence, just numbers and high thirties to fifties in level. Thirties is the level for typical soldiers with anything up to the fifties for officers and leadership. Our fort is basically low level for our region, hence why we guard the border to this region.”
“Please tell me that your lord is just a particularly unreasonable noble and that others in your country’s court are nicer.”
“I can tell you, but would you believe me if I said that he was one of the few that are bad luck to be assigned to as a guard?”
“I’ll humor it. Carry on.”
The guard licked his lips, seeming dehydrated, but forced himself through as he said, “Baron Carn amongst others in the Barony and some people within the Earldom are ones you here bad stories about in the guard academies. The academies would typically send the disruptive, poorly skilled, or annoying recruits to those guard posts. There’s a lot of politics to it. Some say its because the Earl of education wants those people dead so sends the worse guards to them. Others say its a way to cull the population for costs and resources to be freed up. Of course none of this is confirmed, but rumors start from somewhere right?”
William nodded at that and relaxed slightly, taking a comfier position. The guard noticed and smiled a bit at the act.
William decided to ask the obvious question on his mind and as he eyed the sword, he said, “What’s the sword do?”
William assumed it did something good as it looked beautiful. The hilt was white wood with a golden trim weaving around the hilt in a spiral, the edge of the metal flush with the edge of the wood. The blade was about one and a quarter meter long and roughly two inches wide. The steel had swirls of a darker metal color running through the metal blade. It was stunning. William eyed the sheath next and was equally stunned as the chape at the bottom of the sheath and the locket at the top were both made the same way as the blade itself, with gold gilding the white wood of the sheath in the same spiraling pattern as the hilt of the sword. The pair were incredible and he wanted to learn more as he would be the new owner soon.
The guard took a moment to get his composure at the question, but eventually said, “The sword is a family heirloom. Father to son kind of thing. I never intended for it to go further down the line however as my family on that side were scum. It’s yours, I won’t be needing it shortly anyway. Her name is Flicker. [Identify] will explain it better than I can.”
After a brief moment, the guard spoke again, “you seem more relaxed. Don’t tell me you’ve decided to spare me or something like that.”
“I was considering it. Why shouldn’t I? Do you want to die?”
The guard laughed with genuine mirth at that before he replied, “Of course not. I have a wife and kid at home. I’m a warrior though. You are too. I see it clearly in your eyes. This is the way of things. To die against those who would harm my lord or his kin is part of that duty. Duty doesn’t cover the how though. I can at least have some civil conversation as I leave this world, and no, I won’t accept any healing from a potion or healer if your group has one as that aid from my enemy will forever shame my honor.”
“I...Don’t know how I feel about that, honestly.”
“I’m guessing you’re integrated into GAEA recently. That’s the only reason why a warrior with those eyes would be that conflicted. I’m guessing it was a nice and peaceful world?”
William didn’t really know what to say to that if he was being honest. Earth had its wars and it was a human thing to war. This place didn’t have the same level of tech, but had magic instead, and a world of swords and sorcery is definitely more warring than Earth during William’s time there.
“It was more peaceful yes. Are you sure that this is the path you will choose?”
“Yes. I’m ready to die. The scouts going back to the fort have our death letters. It was just in case we didn’t report in at the meeting point. I won’t say where that is As I am duty bound. Nothing I’ve said so far is hard to figure out anyway so I maintain my oath. Can you tell me your name though before you end my life?”
“William. William Brooks. What’s yours?”
“Garrin. Can I make a final request? I hope you can honor it, but obviously that’s up to you William.”
William decided that he would hear the guy out at least and replied, “Go for it. What’s the request? No promises but I’ll listen.”
Garrin smiled at William and took a breath before he said, “If you end up fighting against Fort Boulder, please don’t harm any innocents there. Many are family of the guards. They don’t deserve to die for the foolhardy battles of man. I say this because the scouts will probably report our deaths and as our group of five were the last remaining out here, the lord will probably want to either send more, forcing your hand, or wait to be reinforced. Do with that info what you will.”
“does that info being shared not break your oath?”
Garrin was starting to grow pale, blood loss starting to affect his body. The man gave a soft shake of his head and said, “Nothing I’ve said puts my lord in any more jeopardy than before, so it’s upheld. Will you do as I ask?”
William had no desire to kill anyone that couldn’t fight back or was just trying to get on with their lives peacefully so it was an obvious no-brainer. William simply replied with a stoic nod, prompting a tired smile from Garrin.
“I’m growing colder, I would like to die by the sword instead of bleed out, just...make it quick and clean. Please?” William nodded, wiping off Sharpie more and stowing it to summon Absolution.
It would be quick and clean. A proper end for a warrior.
“I see the lord’s son’s ring is serving you well,” Garrin said, getting into a kneeling position as William had got up off of him.
“It has. The beds are comfy too,” William replied, some sorrow in his heart as he understood that the man would probably decline healing and had chosen to die a warrior.
They weren’t friends, and hardly knew each other, but something about the scenario was hard on William. A mountain of bodies was nothing to him now, so why was the life of one guard so tough for him? Their path’s diverged here however, one ending, another carrying on for a while longer.
“The beds looked great. Only the officers, nobles, and direct guards to the nobles are given them though sadly,” Garrin replied, leaning his head forward so his neck was exposed.
Garrin took a couple deep breaths and composed himself before he said, “Goodbye, William, May you win the battles ahead of you.”
William raised Absolution high, ready to cut through the neck and only stopped to say, “Goodbye, Garrin, I’m...sorry.”
The sword came down and severed head from body. William saw the body slump forward, blood spurting onto the grass. He wiped off Absolution on the yellow cloth on Garrin’s tunic and sighed as he saw the head of Garrin, facing upwards to the sky, his eyes closed and a small smile on his face.
William was feeling more like a warrior each day and after each battle, yet if he was in Garrin’s position, he’d prefer the healing over death. Garrin wouldn’t see his wife or kid again because of ‘duty’. William felt the idea of swearing fealty to someone wrong. He wouldn’t mind others swearing fealty to him, but he wouldn’t kneel. He would fight with every ounce of his being and if he died in battle, that was simply the way of things. He did wish respawns were a thing, or resurrection spells. They may exist, but he doubted a low level region would have anything, and any such services would most likely be exorbitant in cost.
William collected his Mythril dagger from Garrin’s leg and sheathed it. After collecting the sword and storing it for identification a little later on, William decided to take the body and head with him back towards the camp and get some help burying him. In a few more moments, the body was on the ground near a patch of empty grass that William chose as the hole for the grave. After a few minutes explaining the situation, the group helped William with digging the hole. Once it was done and the body was interred, they covered the hole once more and stacked a small cairn of stones atop it. With the remains of the other guards, burning them was easier. Wit that out of the way, John and Jane went back to sleep. Stacey sat with William on watch again, cuddled up close knowing that the event with Garrin stuck in William’s mind. She didn’t need to say anything and the pair knew that, choosing to enjoy the silence as William used [Identify] on the sword. He summoned the sword and sheath from his storage and the results were interesting:
{Ascension_Protocol}
Sword – Flicker
{Description}
A sword made by master artisans of unknown origins. Craft of this blade dates back to the time before records began. The blade has nigh absolute immunity to all damage and is enhanced with enchanted metal smelted into both sheath and blade. Magic enchanted in item is spatial in nature and has three charges before item requires recharge. [Activation Cost: 30MP][Recharge Cost: 1000MP].
{Activation}
Expend a charge from the blade to teleport to a point you can see within 60 meters of your current location.
[Notice – Recharge can only occur when all charges are expended.]
[Notice – Recharge can be done in parts. Does not require full charge in one instance of Recharge.]
[Notice – Item is Soul-bound.]
{Soul-bound}
Item is bonded to the user for life. If destroyed, Item can be re-summoned by bonded user once per day[Minimum 24 hours from point of destruction].
Acquire?
{Y/N}
{End}
It was a sword that did a better and also worse [Flash Stride]. The range was better and there seemed to be no Cool-down for its charges being used. It was also worse as it needed a full recharge before the teleportation function would work again. It would still be incredibly useful though and so he didn’t hesitate to soul-bond it.
His vision went hazy as it transitioned to the mists of his Soulspace.